Sunday, October 23, 2016

Cats in Art: Still Life With Cat and Fish (Chardin)

From my continuing weekly Sunday series of cats in art. Having moved on from Stefano Zuffi's marvelous work, The Cat in Art, I am now using some ideas from Caroline Bugler's equally impressive book, The Cat/3500 Years of the Cat in Art. This is the third of several posts on the art of Chardin.

Image credit Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Still Life With Cat and Fish, Jean Baptiste Simeon Chardin, 1728, oil on canvas, 25" x 31", held by Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain.Very, very cool calico kitty over there on the left, totally intrigued by the plethora of fish. As previous "owners" of a couple of calicos, the bride and I have a special place in our hearts for these tri-colored felines, whose genetic code for coloration renders all calico kitties necessarily female.This girl is ALL business, ready to move on the free food displayed, right over there! Again, Chardin gets it right with the facial expression of the cat, her eyes, her fur, her posture. Obviously a cat "owner," from nearly 300 years ago and a continent away....[Gary note: With my Cats in Arts posts, I encourage you to scope out the art appreciation site Artsy (I have no financial interest in the site, I just like it), where you can explore many aspects of the world of art. You'll certainly be entertained and enlightened!]